Weight-clock.



J. R. PUTNAM.

WEIGHT CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY $1976., 1,202,424. Patented Oct. 24,1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET '1,

J. R. PUTNAM.

WEIGHT CLOCK.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 3,1316.

1,202,424. Patented Oct. 24,1916.

2. SHEETS-SHEET 2.

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STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES R. IPUTNAM, OF WATERBURY, CONNECTICUT, ASSIG-NOR T0 WATERBURY CLOCK 00., 0F WATERBUEY, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION.

WEIGHT-CLOCK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

a all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JAMES R. PUTNAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at \Vaterbury, in the county of New Haven and State of Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Weight- Clocks; and I do hereby declare the following, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings and the characters of reference marked thereon, to be a full, clear, and exact description of the same, and which said drawings constitute part of this application, and represent, 111- Figure 1 a view in front elevation of aclock-inovement embodying my invention. Fig. 2 a view thereof in side elevation. Fig. 3 a detached view in side elevation of one of the winding-arbors, showing the attachment of one end of the weight-ribbon to its drum.

My invention relates to an improvement in that class of weight clocks in which two trains are driven by a single weight, the object being to reduce the movements of clocks of this character to the minimum thickness from front to rear, as well as to avoid the commonly experienced cutting or twisting or uneven piling of the means employed for suspending the weight.

W'ith these ends in view, my invention consists in a weight-clock characterized by having its strike-and time-trains driven by a single weight suspended from a flat metal weight-ribbon, the respective ends of which are coiled in the vertical plane upon narrow drums applied to the winding-arbors of the respective trains.

My invention further consists in a weight clock having certain details of construction as will be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claim.

In carrying out my invention, as herein shown, I employ a single length of narrow, flat, metal-ribbon 2 the respective ends of which are spirally wound in the vertical plane upon narrow drums 3 and 4 provided for the time-and-strikc-trains, which may themselves be of any suitable construction. From the middle portion of the said weightribbon 2, I suspend a weight 5 from a suspension-fixture comprising, as shown, a pulley 6 provided with flanges 7 separated for a distance corresponding to the width of the ribbon 2. This pulley is journaled in the upper end of a. depending yoke 8 fur nished at its lower and with a hook 9 pass ing through an eye 10 at the top of the weight 5. The grooves 11 of the narrow drums 3 and 4 are also conformed to the width of the ribbon 2 and adapted in depth to accommodate the maximum number of ribbon-coils when the clock is fully wound. For the attachment of the respective ends of the ribbon 2 to the drums, the bottom of each groove 11 is formed with a fiat bearingface 12 upon which the extreme ends of the ribbon rest. These flat bearing-faces 12 are provided with fastening-screws 13 having oblong heads 14 over'which slots 15 in the ends of the ribbon are passed, after which the screws 13 are turned a' quarter turn to cause their heads 14 to'stand at a right angle to the longitudinal axes of the slots 15 as clearly shown in F i 3, whereby the ends of the ribbon are securely held in place upon the bearing-faces 12; The said drums 3 and 4 are rigidly mounted uponthe windingarbors 16 and 17 of the time-and-strike trains, respectively. The forward end of each of the drums 3 and 4 is formed, as shown, with a concentric annular shoulder 18 upon which the main wheels 19 and 20 are loosely mounted, and upon which they are secured in place by ratchet-wheels 21 larger in diameter than the said shoulders 18 and so overlapping the openings in the wheels, as to hold the same in place without interfering with their free rotation upon the said shoulders 18. The ratchet-wheels 21 are engaged in the usual manner by pawls 22 controlled by springs 23. The wheels 19 and 20 mesh into pinions 24 on arbors 25 forming elements of the respective trains. For preventing the ribbon 2 from being overwound or unwound too far, I employ, as herein shown, collars 26 mounted on the squared forward ends of the winding-arbors 16 and 17 and having projecting fingers 27 co-acting with notches in Geneva stopwheels 28 of well known form and operation. In order to prevent the strain of the weight 5 from falling on the extreme ends of the weight-ribbon 2 and upon the fastening-screws 13, the Geneva stop-wheels 28 just described are set to arrest the unwinding of the weight-ribbon so as to leave one complete coil thereof upon each of the drums 3 and 4, whereby the ends of the ribbon are gripped thereupon, in addition to the holding effect of the fastenin '-screws 13.

It will be clear from t e foregoing that Patented Oct. 24,, 1916.,

the coils of the ribbon 2 are piled vertically in a very narrow space as compared with weight-cords or chains which are wound helically from front to rear, and vice versa, upon suitable drums or arbors. Moreover, the action of the ribbon 2 in unwinding is perfectly even and unaccompanied by any of the sudden jerks attendant upon the use of cords or chains which pile up unevenly and hence unwind unevenly and result in a jerking transmission of power to the trains. The metal-ribbon, moreover, is practically indestructible and eliminates the danger of breakage and the falling of the weight which is one of the objections to weightclocks. The clock shown is provided with an additional train sufiiciently indicated by the main-wheel 29, in the present case form' ing the main-wheel of a chime train. It is apparent, of course, that I may select any two of these three trains .to be driven by the flat metal weight-ribbon 2.

To prevent the weight-ribbon 2 from jumping out of the groove in the drums 3 and 4 under any conceivable circumstances, I preferably employ safety-pins one of which isshown in Fig. 2 and which is arranged to extend laterally across the groove of the drum 4:. As shown, the pin 30 is secured by a screw 31 in the front movement plate'32 of the clock. Obviously some other means than this pin might be employed for the same purpose, or it might be dispensed Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the with. At the outset of the description, I referred to the reduction of the clock-movements in thickness from front to rear, to the minimum, as one of the objects of my invention. I may here point out that my invention also enables the entire movement to be made considerably smaller than where heavy bulky weights are used in conjunction with cable-like wire cords which must be so large in diameter that when wound they occupy a considerable space, requiring large winding-drums and large movement-frames. WVhen such wire cords are employed, they must be wound on relatively large drums, since if wound on small drums, the strands of the wire cords are apt to break.

I claim In a weight-clock having a time-train and a strike-train, the combination with two narrow drums located in the same vertical plane and respectively organized with the said time and strike-trains, of a flat, metal weight-ribbon the respective ends of which are fastened to the respective drums upon which the ribbon is coiled in the vertical plane thereof, a pulley riding upon the said weight-ribbon between the ends thereof, and a weight suspended from the said pulley, whereby the said time-train and the said strike-train are operated by a single weight acting through a single fiat, metal weightribbon.

JAMES R. PUTNAM.

Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. 0. 

